1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cable tensioning systems, and more particularly to systems for tensioning surgical cables employed to hold human body tissues and/or bones in a desired relationship or position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many products are known which serve to hold human body tissues and bones in a desired relationship or position, to aid in their healing when injured or diseased. One such product is the surgical cable, which can be wrapped around the fragments of a fractured bone, for example, such that a compressive force is applied which aids in the healing of the bone. Such a cable is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,589,246 to Hack et al.
After the cable has been wrapped around the anatomical structures to be held, the resulting looped cable is tightened to apply a desired level of compressive force to the structures. The cable forming the loop is then locked into place with a cable retaining device such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,090 to Mattchen.
Tightening the looped cable to apply a desired level of compressive force requires a means of tensioning the cable. Previous systems have used various types of actuated clamping jaws to grip the cables. For example, one such tensioning system, described in SuperCable™ Iso-Elastic™ Cerclage System—Surgical Technique, Kinamed Inc. (2008), employs a clamping jaw that is screwed down using a hand operated wrench. However, the swing of the wrench requires unrestricted space that may not be available when working in deep wounds; i.e., the patient's muscle and fatty tissues may crowd in around where the tensioner needs to be deployed. Such systems may also be seen as suboptimal in terms of reliability and time required to operate.